Friday, October 21, 2011

9 Left Dead - The Wrong Things
2011, Dirtbag Music

Oklahoma City rockers 9 Left Dead
recently dropped their debut album, The Wrong Things, on Dirtbag Music,
following on the heels of a lot of buzz and active rock ads across the U.S. for
the first single, "Put Your Guns Down". Starting out in 1999 as
Harmful If Swallowed, 9 Left Dead has grown over the years, with former prison
guards Travis Jones (vocals) and Jared Ellis (bass) joined by Kreg Anthony
(lead guitar); Nathan Parrish (rhythm guitar) and Bryan Whitley (drums) to form
the current lineup.

9 Left Dead plays modern rock that
blends in nicely on active rock playlists. In fact it blends in so well it’s
difficult to tell 9 Left Dead from a host of other bands in the same musical
demographic, a point that becomes apparent very early on The Wrong Things.
Jones has a solid voice, but lacks the power or distinctive sound to make him
truly memorable, and 9 Left Dead's sound is homogenized to maximize attention
from radio programmers but fails to distinguish the band in the process. The
songs on The Wrong Things are fairly average for the genre, with the
lead single "Put Your Guns Down" sounding like action-movie
soundtrack fodder. The highlight of the album is a cover of The Doors'
"People Are Strange", and even here the band sounds like they're
running through the song on automatic.

9 Left Dead has something of a
reputation for their live performances; but none of that energy or panache
carries over into The Wrong Things. There's just too little
differentiation both within the music, and between the band and other acts in
their genre to really make a strong impression one way or the other.